The Office of Governor Larry Hogan today issued the following press release:

Governor Larry Hogan today announced the appointment of Judge Patrick L. Woodward as Chief Judge to the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. Judge Woodward has served as a judge on the Court since 2005. The appointment is effective May 6, 2017.

“I am confident that Judge Woodward is the most qualified individual to fill the chief judge vacancy on the Court of Special Appeals,” said Governor Hogan. “Judge Woodward has an exceptional and extensive judicial background, and has exhibited integrity and a strong commitment to justice. I offer him my sincere congratulations and best wishes.”

“I am truly honored by the trust and confidence that the Governor has placed in me,” said Judge Woodward. “I will do everything in my power to discharge my new duties faithfully, diligently, and competently.”

Judge Patrick L. Woodward is currently a judge for the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland where he has served since 2005, when he was appointed by Governor Robert Ehrlich. Prior to his appointment, Judge Woodward served as a judge for both the Circuit and District Courts of Montgomery County. Before serving as a judge, he was a sole practitioner and principal for Jackson & Campbell, P.C. Judge Woodward received his Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his J.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

In a pair of decisions from 2007 and 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States established what has become known as the Twombly-Iqbal standard for a federal complaint to state a claim. With Twombly-Iqbal now entrenched in federal court, practitioners may be wondering whether that standard’s “plausibility” requirement also applies to complaints in state court. A better question, though, may be whether such a requirement was ever lacking in state court. Read More…

President Trump’s revised “travel ban,” which targets six predominantly Muslim nations, has drawn intense media scrutiny and legal challenges across the nation. The proceedings in the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Hawaii and Washington, have garnered the lion’s share of the media spotlight. But proceedings here in the Fourth Circuit may yield the first substantive appellate court decision on the travel ban’s constitutionality.

As often happens in high-profile appeals, unusual procedural questions have also arisen. Last week, the Fourth Circuit received briefing, which it had ordered from the parties just days earlier, “on the appropriateness of initial en banc review” by the entire court. This is atypical for many reasons. Read More…

The Maryland Court of Appeals has posted its first batch of April 2017 certiorari grants, and next term is already looking interesting. The four grants include Baltimore charter schools’ appeal of an order staying their challenge to the city school board’s proposed funding formula. The Court of Appeals is also set to address the necessity of expert testimony to introduce a cell phone’s GPS location record. The cases are likely to be argued in September. The full list appears after the jump.

We mourn the loss of Judge Howard S. Chasanow, a former judge on the Court of Appeals of Maryland, who died on April 2. I had the privilege to hear Judge Chasanow speak in October 2014 at the portrait and chief judge transition ceremony for his wife, Judge Deborah K. Chasanow, a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Judge Chasanow joked about his wife’s aversion to the spotlight, even at an event held in her honor. “It’s hard to give speeches about people who won’t let you talk about them,” he quipped. That night, Judge Chasanow displayed the same charm that many lawyers had come to admire.